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Georgia Tech Football: Four Yellow Jackets no longer on roster

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

BLACKSBURG, VA - OCTOBER 25: A member of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets cheerleading squad celebrates a touchdown against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the second half at Lane Stadium on October 25, 2018 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images)
BLACKSBURG, VA - OCTOBER 25: A member of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets cheerleading squad celebrates a touchdown against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the second half at Lane Stadium on October 25, 2018 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images) /
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The newest installment of Georgia Tech’s football roster for 2019 shows the departure of four scholarship players.

Georgia Tech has had four additional scholarship spots open up over the summer it appears as Georgia Tech released it’s newest roster on Wednesday. The newest roster shows the departure of four scholarship players from the program in safties Gentry Bonds and Jarrett Cole while running back Xavier Gantt and offensive lineman Boe Tufele also have departed from the program.

Bonds, the highest ranked player in terms of recruiting rankings is leaving the program after just two seasons on The Flats as he enters his redshirt sophomore season. Bonds was a top-600 player in the nation when he was recruited to The Flats and is a notable loss in terms of pure potential coming out of high school. After redshirting his true freshman season, Bonds failed to appear in a game in 2018, the departure has to raise questions of where Bonds stood on the Jackets depth chart entering fall camp.

Cole, a member of the 2016 recruiting class, a product of Norcross High School (Norcross, GA) departs the program after appearing in nine games over the past two seasons. In those nine games, he recorded just two tackles. He wasn’t expected to be a starter in 2019 and was most likely going to be a second or third teamer this season. He didn’t provide much experience in playing time but would’ve provided some quality leadership as one of the older members of the safety group. Cole’s departure leaves the Jackets with four scholarship safeties for 2019.

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Gantt was set to enter his redshirt junior season after appearing in four games last season and getting his first two career carries in which he picked up two yards. For Gantt, his departure most likely comes down to the fact that it would be hard to find him a true position for the 2019 season. While he wasn’t going to fit into the running back position after being an a-back, it would’ve been hard to see him crack the depth chart at wide receiver as well, leaving him positionless.

Tufele a defensive end coming out of high school from Harbor City, California made the move to the offensive line after enrolling on campus in June of 2017. Tufele over his first two years on campus didn’t see any playing time and was probably on the border of seeing playing time or not in 2019. For the Jackets, the loss of Tufele hurts in terms of depth as he wasn’t expected to be a starter and was probably a borderline second team offensive lineman. By our counts, the departure of Tufele means the Jackets now have 12 scholarship offensive lineman for 2019 including five seniors.

The Yellow Jackets will start off their 2019 campaign on August 29th when the Yellow Jackets take on the Clemson Tigers in Death Valley.